Since the advent of the so-called "energy crisis" which was created by the scarcity of domestically produced oil and natural gas, there has been a significant effort made to develop other sources of energy. For many years, there has been interest in developing systems for harnessing solar energy; but this interest has increased substantially in the last two or three years resulting in the development of a myriad of systems both experimental and practicable for utilizing the sun's energy.
This invention is directed primarily toward the collector portion of a solar energy unit which receives the sun's rays and directs it to elements to be heated. For the most part, prior art devices utilize planar collector surfaces which are usually slanted in the direction of the sun.
Solar energy systems have been devised for a number of different uses and applications. However, the greatest interest appears to be in supplying energy for heating and/or cooling buildings and more particularly, residences. In any event, and regardless to what particular use the system is put, the collector surface must be mounted for maximum exposure to the sun.
As mentioned above, in most prior art units, the collector surfaces are planar and are slanted toward the sun. Accordingly, they operate at maximum efficiency only when pointed directly at the sun. Therefore, as the sun moves throughout the day, the collector becomes less efficient in collecting the sun's rays.
One of the primary purposes of this invention is to provide a solar energy unit which utilizes a collector which operates at maximum efficiency regardless of the sun's position throughout the day. In general, the invention includes a convex transparent dome which is provided with prismatic facets or lens which magnify and concentrate the sun's rays for any position of the sun about the perimeter of the dome in the horizontal plane. The closest prior art known to the applicant is U.S. Pat. No. 3,125,091 to Sleeper issued Mar. 17, 1964, entitled Inflatable Solar Energy Collector. The Sleeper patent is designed primarily for use as an emergency inflatable energy source as opposed to a stationary system for use in heating buildings or the like. The Sleeper system differs further from the invention of this application in areas that will become apparent from the description to follow.